Cones, flows, and fissures mark the uppermost portions of Mauna Loa’s northeast rift zone in the foreground of this aerial image taken by Civil Air Patrol on Sunday, October 20, 2019. In the background, Moku‘āweoweo, Mauna Loa’s summit caldera, is visible. (via USGS HVO)

(BIVN) – Mauna Loa Volcano is not erupting, and rates of deformation and seismicity have not changed significantly over the past week, reported the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in its weekly update.

Mauna Loa remains at an ADVISORY / YELLOW alert level, mainly because signals coming from the volcano remain above long-term background levels.

“During the past week, approximately 147 small-magnitude earthquakes (nearly all smaller than M2.0) were detected beneath the upper elevations of Mauna Loa,” HVO reported on Thursday, compared to 80 small-magnitude earthquakes the week before. “Most of the earthquakes occurred at shallow depths of less than 5 km (~3 mi) below ground level, but a couple were as deep as 12 km (~7.5 mi),” HVO said.

“Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements show continued summit inflation, consistent with magma supply to the volcano’s shallow storage system,” scientists said. “Readings of fumarole temperature and gas concentrations at the Sulphur Cone monitoring site on the Southwest Rift Zone remain stable.”

The USGS recently published some photos of the volcano courtesy the Civil Air Patrol, which flew over the 13,681 ft. summit area on Sunday, October 20. The images offered dramatic views of the Moku‘āweoweo caldera and other features.

Aerial view of Mauna Loa’s summit caldera, Moku‘āweoweo, captured by Civil Air Patrol on Sunday, October 20, 2019. Lua Poholo is the name of the pit crater in the bottom left corner of the image. Cones that formed during the 1940 and 1949 eruptions of Mauna Loa are visible in the background, as well as fissures that extend through the center of the caldera. These fissures formed during the most recent eruption of Mauna Loa, in 1984. (via USGS HVO)

Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. Scientists say updates on the status of the volcano will be issued each week on Thursdays until further notice.